Railroad cross-tie.



J. GEARON, s3;

RAILROAD CROSS TIE. APPLIOA'IIOH rnnn Nov. 24. 1909.

' Patented Ju1y 5,191,0.'

' WITNESSES 50 a sheet of fabric, that may be felt cloth or 1'5 plies and consoli UNITED sTATEs JOHN GEARON, S3,, OF CHIQAQO, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD Specification of Letters Patent.

(moss-rm. I

- Application filed November '24., 1909. Serial a... 529,709.

To all whom it my concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN GEARON, Sn,- a citizen of the United States, and a 'resident of Chicago, in'the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Railroad Cross-Tie, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. V I

This invention has for its object to produce a railroad cross tie of laminated mate- .rial, in tubulated form, and more particularly to construct a cross tie that is hollow and formed of a sheet of late metal and a sheet of fibrous or other su1table pliable material, lapped or wrap ed together in alternate dated by applied pressure,

. that gives proper form to the composite tie.

The invention consists inthe novel construction and combinationof rigid and pliable material in sheets, as is hereinafter de-' scribed and'defined in the'appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming. a smart of this specification, in which similar 0 aracters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the improved cross tie; Fig. 2. is an end View of the im roved cross tie embedded in a ballasted rai road bed, and a side viewof two track rails secured together at the meeting ends and mounted upon the tie, and Fig.3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of the 1mproved cross tie.

' Wooden cross ties are serviceable while in good condition, but are liable to rot and require replacement, Cross ties as usually formed of cast metal or of cement are non-' elastic, and. the traverse of track rails seated on such ties, by rolling stock, causes percussion, that is injurious to the railroad and to c the cars and enginesthat traverse'the track.

A dominant featureof this improvement 1 com rises the novel embodiment of alternately-dis osed sheets of'metal preferably formed 0 steel and pliable fabric, such as felt cloth or heavy tarred aper, as shown, and that will now be more ully described.

In the drawings, 5 indicates a sheet of steel of suitable width and thickness, and 6 heavy paper that has been coated'w ith tar or an equivalent preservative materlal. A eets of the metal and of the pliable fabric are provided, the numberoff? these two sets of sheets being the same and their width equal.

In the manufactureof the hollow cross ties of my invention, from sheets of steel plate and layers of paper or other pliable fabric, these two materials are disposed one on the other alternately until a proper thickness is obtained, the paper andsteel plate breaking joints with each other. It is to be understood that a' former or mandrel of Pate ted July-5,1919.

cylindrical form 18 employed to support the laminated materials, so that the tie body, in its first stage of construction, is rendered tubular, having a width that represents the length of the tie when it is completed. The hollow tie body is now flattened on two opposite sides, by passing it between a pair of power-driven rollers (not shown), which simply changes the'form of the tie so that it has parallel sides and a properthickness, but remains hollow throughout its length. The tiebody may have two other parallel sides formed thereon, by assing the hollow laminated body thereof etween a pair of power-driven rollers, which are separated a proper distance, these latter mentioned sides being parallel with each other, and disposed at right angles with the sides'that represent the upper and lower surfaces of the tie body.

A suitable number of rivets a are inserted in spaced perforations formed in the walls of the tie body,these serving to hold the sheets of steel and pliable material closely. contacting with each other. In giving form to the tie body, rounded corners E arefproduced, which is of advantage, as the material is not fractured and full strength is'had by the tie at all points in-its hollow body. In the normally top wall A of the tie body, perforations b may be formed, as shown in Fig. 1, these perforations being so relatively ositioned that they may accommodate bolts or an attachment of rail clamps or chairs, such as are usually employed for;- securing track rails G in place on cross ties of ordinary construction.

' To-arrange cross ties of the improved constructionin position for service, it is pmferr'e'd-that ballast, such asbroken stone F,

be closely packed within each tie,- and the ballast filling- F within the cross ties will t aflord support thereto, so that the upper; 1.1g

' material, as hereinbefore explained, confers sufficient elasticity to the tie bodies to adapt them for absorbing shocks which they sustain,-due to the traverse of heavy rolling stock over the'track rails and ties, which increases the durability of the railroadand of the cars that pass over it.

In further-explanation of the advantages obtained'by theconstruction of the cross tie as hereinbefore described, it will be evident that the formation of the hollow tie body, from alternately-disposed sheets of steel plate and layers of paper, felt cloth or other pliable fibrous material,- giving the tie body paralleltop and bottom sides, adapts-each sheet of steel plate to have a proper degree of elasticity, so that" While the upper halfsection of the tie body is sup orted by the filling of ballast, it is adapte for cooperation with the lower half-section thereof, similarly to the action of an elliptical plate spring, both; sections sustaining an equal portion of load strain imposed upon the t1e.

It will be apparent 7 that the dimensions and Weight of-the improved cross tie may be increased to compensate for the weight sustained by it. The load strain, sustained by the improved cross tie is in direction of the grain of the sheet'fmetal, so that the maximum strength of said material'sustains the load imposed on the tie.

The advantageous disposal of the material composing the improved crosstie permits a reduction in"weight, so that the ties "are capable of production at a moderate-cost, and

' ters Patent:

if protected from oxidation by a pro )er coating, have been found to be very dura le. It will be apparent that the improvement may be used on bridges, viaducts and elevated railroads, and it is to be understood that I claim the application of the improvement for such metal structural work, as it may be found of advantage to employ it.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Let- 1. A cross tie having a hollow body formed of a continuous sheet of steel and a continuous sheet .of pliable fibrous material disposed in alternate layers, said sheets being Wrapped together so as toproduce the tie body.

2. A cross tie having a hollow body formed of alternately disposed layers of steel and felt cloth,v all securedtogether, said body having parallel top and bottom walls.

3. A cross tie having a hollow body formed of alternate layers of steeland pliable fibrous material, all secured together,- said body having parallel sides, and parallel top and bottom walls.

4:. The combination with a hollow cross tie formed of a sheet of steel and a sheet of pliable material rolledjtogether to form a tie, said tie having parallel. top and bottom walls, parallel side walls and rounded corners, of a filling of broken stone disposed within the tie walls.

body for the support 'of its In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN GEARON, SR. Witnesses:

EDWARD GEARON, I

A. H. DAUM. 

